My Genealogy Hound

William S. Boyd deserves honorable mention as one of the successful farmers and stockmen of the county. He was born in Fayette County, Penn., in 1828, being a son of William and Elizabeth (Stevens) Boyd, who were also born in that county. About 1841 they went to Pickaway County, Ohio, where they both died. The father held numerous county offices, among which was county judge, and was a farmer and stockman by occupation. In the War of 1812 he was on Commodore Perry’s fleet on Lake Erie. His father, William Boyd, was born in Ireland, and when a young man came to America, and after his marriage spent his life in Fayette County, Penn. The maternal grandfather, Dr. Stevens, was a leading physician of that county, and there spent his life. William S. Boyd, the seventh of eleven sons and two daughters, five of the family being now alive, received his education in the common schools, and was reared on a farm. He went with his parents to Pickaway County, Ohio, where he remained until 1849, then going to California via Cape Horn, and spent about five years engaged in mining and gardening in that State. He then returned to Ohio via the Nicaragua route, and shortly after went to Illinois, where he was occupied in farming for some time, then went to Kansas, but soon returned to Ohio. He again went from that State to Illinois, and in 1868 came to Barton County, Mo., where he has since lived, being now the owner of 160 acres of good farming land. He has broken about 1,300 acres of prairie land. In March, 1884, he returned to Ohio, and was married to Martha L. Stivison, who was born in that State, and was for eleven years one of Pickaway County’s best school teachers. Her parents, Jacob and Margaret (West) Stivison, were born in Pickaway County, Ohio, in 1816 and 1820, respectively, and are still living in the house in which Mrs. Stivison was born, and only one and one-half miles from where Mr. Stivison was born. They reared seven children. They are members of the Christian and United Brethren Churches, respectively, and he is a son of Jacob Stivison, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Boyd is a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Pierce.